


An Ode to American Snack Food

by dancingontheedge



Category: Mercy Street (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, snack food
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-10
Updated: 2017-06-10
Packaged: 2018-11-12 08:40:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11158254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dancingontheedge/pseuds/dancingontheedge
Summary: Anne and Lisette have a 3am discussion about snack food in the hospital break room.





	An Ode to American Snack Food

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tvsn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tvsn/gifts).



Lisette crept closer to the hospital break room.  It was just after three in the morning, and the halls on the floor away from the ER were quiet and dim.  The muted light always made her feel that it was necessary to tread softly.  Hence, the creeping, even though she knew she was not the only one awake on the floor.   Her shift was only half over.

She could see that the lights were on in the break room, and hear the quiet clattering of dishes.  As she entered, she took note of Dr. Anne Hastings reaching into a cupboard for a mug, a bowl piled high with goldfish crackers on the counter to her left and next to it a brown box that said “Swiss Miss: Caramel Delight Cocoa” on the front. 

Anne was on her toes, her hand braced against the counter as she reached for the mug.  Someone, probably one of the taller residents, had put all the mugs on the highest shelf.  The Swiss Miss had clearly come from Anne’s cavernous purse, stored in her locker while she was on shift.  It wouldn’t last more than four hours among the community food in the break room.  Not with it being caramel flavored, anyway.

Anne was muttering to herself as she stretched.  Lisette couldn’t make out what she was saying, but did not doubt for a moment that it was dire threats against whoever had put the mugs so high.  At last, with an “Aha!” of triumph, Anne succeeded in grabbing a mug printed with Snoopy dressed in a doctor’s coat and wielding a stethoscope in the general direction of Woodstock.  She whirled around, grinning, and walked to the sink.

Lisette snapped herself out of the tired haze that had trapped her by the door staring, fascinated, at Anne’s attempts on the cupboards.  

“Bonjour, Anne,” said Lisette, walking to the cupboards and reaching for the graham crackers.  Now, to find the frosting.  Lisette had foolishly given up caffeine for Lent, and sugar was the only thing that would get her through the night.   _Give up something that you’ll notice gone_  her priest had recommended.  Well she had, and had regretted it every day since.  No caffeine meant she couldn’t even have the more-mediocre-than-Anne’s break room Swiss Miss, much less coffee.

“It’s hardly day now, is it Lisette?” Anne said tartly, turning on the microwave with her mug of water inside.  Anne was always tart, but especially so at three in the morning.

“But ‘allo is for answering telephones, and bon matin would have made you want to strangle me.”

“True enough,”  Anne said with a shrug, turning from the microwave and resting her hips against the counter lazily.  She raised her eyebrows, “What are you looking for Lisette?”

“Frosting, for my graham crackers.  Emma showed me last week, and it’s delicious.”

“I saw it over there when I was looking for the goldfish.  Cream cheese frosting in one of those little tins that never needs to be refrigerated.

 As Lisette opened the indicated cupboard Anne asked her, “Have you ever tried the graham crackers with a cinnamon sugar topping?  Completely brilliant.  Americans have great snacks, even if they are a bit sugary for my taste.”

The microwave dinged, and Anne removed her Snoopy mug and brought it to the Swiss Miss.  She stirred in a packet as Lisette reached for a butter knife to spread the frosting on her graham crackers.

“American snacks are too sugary for you.” Lisette said with a pointed look at the caramel and chocolate flavored hot drink that Lisette could practically feel rotting her teeth from just the smell.

“Oh shove off.  At least I don’t stoop to the dehydrated marshmallows.”

Lisette shrugged, conceding.  Why Swiss Miss thought it a good idea to include packets of dehydrated tiny marshmallows with their cocoa mix “With Marshmallows” was anyone’s guess, but they were decidedly odd little things and nowhere near as good as regular marshmallows.  Besides, if Anne didn’t already know it Lisette wasn’t about to be the one to tell her that Swiss Miss: Dark Chocolate was where it was at.

Anne’s packet of convenient cocoa thoroughly stirred in (to the point where probably less than a milligram would remain, silt-like, at the bottom of her empty mug), and Lisette’s package of graham crackers well frosted, the two of them sat at the little table in the room, contentedly chewing.

**Author's Note:**

> In honor of Tav, our two non-Americans wax poetic about American snack food.
> 
> I know this is practically an ad for Swiss Miss, but you all should know that Swiss Miss: Dark Chocolate is really where it's at. I have never had caramel Swiss Miss, but the rest of the sentiment regarding the brand's flavors is my own.
> 
> Also, the picture of Snoopy is unnecessarily adorable, have the link: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/fc/97/98/fc9798f6e9b40cec40253527569ae95b.jpg

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [An American Cheese in Paris](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11175615) by [sagiow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sagiow/pseuds/sagiow)




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